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Friday, June 19, 2009

Questions on Church

This past week I've been with my aunt and her family in Buffalo, NY. They go to a quant Baptist Church, and when I first walked in the door on Sunday to attend service one thought went through my head: "I'm not in Kansas anymore."The service went about as expected. Sunday school was decently thought provoking, worship was less then engaging (hymns) and the overall message was pretty good. My post today has nothing to do with this church or the way it is run. Rather, I want to bring up the topic of denominations.

My observation of church denominations is that they don't work.

I think denominations are started by people who think of the church (building) rather then the church (people). This goes back to the whole issue of relationship. Is the goal of church to teach certain things, have a message, then go home to watch football? Actually, football may be closer to the actual purpose of church. I believe the purpose of church is to bring believers in Christ together as one body to worship Him, and to encourage each other. A "Sunday message" may or may not be ideal for this purpose, and the same for for worship and Sunday school, etc.

What if the "rules" of Church (denominations, common practice, tradition) simply don't work. Where would that leave us? What if what we call "church" is but a shadow of what God wants the Church to be?

What about you? What do you think? Is church necesary? Is it mandated? Is it working?

1 comment:

Church is necessary in the fact that it is not the building, but the fellowship of believers in Christ. We can't go through life without support - we weren't supposed to.

But "church" as it is today is not working, is not mandatory, and is largely not necessary. It's a bunch of going through the motions with very little true relationship with Christ. That's why people mock Christianity.